Proverbs 5:3-14

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Proverbs 5:3 sn “Lips” is a metonymy of cause, referring to her words. Dripping honey is compared by implication to her words, which are flattering and smooth (cf. Song 4:11). See M. Dahood, “Honey That Drips. Notes on Proverbs 5:2-3, ” Bib 54 (1973): 65-66.
2. Proverbs 5:3 tn Heb “her palate.” The word חֵךְ (khekh, “palate; roof of the mouth; gums”) is a metonymy of cause (= organ of speech) for what is said (= her seductive speech). The present translation clarifies this metonymy with the phrase “her seductive words.”
3. Proverbs 5:4 sn Heb “her end” (so KJV). D. Kidner notes that Proverbs does not allow us to forget that there is an afterward (Proverbs [TOTC], 65).
4. Proverbs 5:4 sn The verb “to be bitter” (מָרַר, marar) describes things that are harmful and destructive for life, such as the death of the members of the family of Naomi (Ruth 1:20) or finding water that was undrinkable (Exod 15:22-27). The word indicates that the sweet talking will turn out badly.
5. Proverbs 5:4 tn The Hebrew term translated “wormwood” refers to the aromatic plant that contrasts with the sweetness of honey. Some follow the LXX and translate it as “gall” (cf. NIV). The point is that there was sweetness when the tryst had alluring glamour, but afterward it had an ugly ring (W. G. Plaut, Proverbs, 74).
6. Proverbs 5:4 sn The Hebrew has “like a sword of [two] mouths,” meaning a double-edged sword that devours/cuts either way. There is no movement without damage. There may be a wordplay here with this description of the “sword with two mouths,” and the subject of the passage being the words of her mouth which also have two sides to them. The irony is cut by the idiom.
7. Proverbs 5:5 tn The term שְׁאוֹל (sh^eʾol, “grave”) is paralleled to “death,” so it does not refer here to the realm of the unblessed. sn The terms death and grave could be hyperbolic of a ruined life, but probably refer primarily to the mortal consequences of a life of debauchery.
8. Proverbs 5:6 tc The LXX and other versions read “not” instead of “lest.” This may be an effort to make sense of the unusual syntax, or perhaps the MT has been corrupted. The general sense is the same in either case.tn Heb “The path of life lest she clear the way.” This is the only occasion where the particle פֶּן (pen, “lest”) appears to occur in the middle of its clause rather than at the beginning. The particle implies some action has been taken to avert or avoid what follows. The translation treats the “path of life” as the object and links the clause to the previous verse. One may note, however, that if the two halves of this verse reversed, normal syntax and good sense are also restored. “Her paths have wandered. She is not able to discern—the path leading to life, lest she make it clear.” (Or “lest she examine it.” See note on the verb.)
9. Proverbs 5:6 tn Two roots are proposed for the verb פָּלַס (palas), “to clear/make a way” or “to observe; to examine.” If the latter root, then it would mean “lest she examine the path of life.”
10. Proverbs 5:6 tn Heb “the path of life.” The noun חַיִּים (khayyim, “of life”) functions as a genitive of direction (“leading to”).
11. Proverbs 5:6 tn The verb נוּעַ (nuaʿ) means “to quiver; to waver; to roam around.” As the perfect form of a dynamic verb, it is past or perfective. Here it should be perfective to recognize the continuing results. Some translations treat the verb as stative and so present tense (cf. KJV “her ways are moveable”), but it is morphologically dynamic as revealed by its imperfect form. Others treat it as an imperfect, rendering it in future tense (NAB “her paths will ramble”) or general present (NLT “She staggers down a crooked trail.”).
12. Proverbs 5:6 tn The verb יָדַע (yadaʿ, “to know”) is a stative verb in the imperfect form, which can be either future or modal. Here it is a modal abilitive: she is unable to know. DCH includes יָדַע II, “be quiet, at rest; be submissive” citing Jer 4:18 and Job 21:19. See also D. W. Thomas, “A Note on לא תדע in Proverbs v 6, ” JTS 37 (1936): 59, proposing “she is not tranquil.”
13. Proverbs 5:7 tn Heb “sons.”
14. Proverbs 5:7 tn Heb “the words of my mouth” (so KJV, NAB, NRSV).
15. Proverbs 5:8 tn Heb “your way.”
16. Proverbs 5:8 sn There is a contrast made between “keep far away” (הַרְחֵק, harkheq) and “do not draw near” (וְאַל־תִּקְרַב, v^eʾal tiqrav).
17. Proverbs 5:9 sn The term הוֹד (hod, “vigor; splendor; majesty”) in this context means the best time of one’s life (cf. NIV “your best strength”), the full manly vigor that will be wasted with licentiousness. Here it is paralleled by “years,” which refers to the best years of that vigor, the prime of life. Life would be ruined by living this way, or the revenge of the woman’s husband would cut it short.
18. Proverbs 5:10 tn Heb “eat their fill of” or “become sated from” your strength.
19. Proverbs 5:10 tn The word כֹּחַ (koakh, “strength”) refers to what laborious toil would produce (so a metonymy of cause). Everything that this person worked for could become the property for others to enjoy.
20. Proverbs 5:10 tn “labor, painful toil.”
21. Proverbs 5:10 tn The term “benefit” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity and smoothness.
22. Proverbs 5:11 tn Heb “at your end.”
23. Proverbs 5:11 tn The form is the perfect tense with the vav consecutive; it is equal to a specific future within this context.sn The verb means “to growl, groan.” It refers to a lion when it devours its prey, and to a sufferer in pain or remorse (e.g., Ezek 24:23).
24. Proverbs 5:11 tn Heb “in the finishing of your flesh and your body.” The construction uses the Qal infinitive construct of כָּלָה (kalah) in a temporal clause; the verb means “be complete, at an end, finished, spent.”
25. Proverbs 5:13 tn The vav that introduces this clause functions in an explanatory sense.
26. Proverbs 5:13 tn Heb “did not listen to the voice of.” The picture is that of treating the teacher’s instruction as background noise instead of paying attention to it or obeying it.
27. Proverbs 5:13 tn The Hebrew term מוֹרַי (moray) is the nominal form based on the Hiphil plural participle with a suffix, from the root יָרָה (yarah). The verb is “to teach,” the common noun is “instruction, law [torah],” and this participle form is teacher (“my teachers”).
28. Proverbs 5:13 tn The idiom is based on attentiveness: “did not incline my ear to.”
29. Proverbs 5:13 tn The form is the Piel plural participle of לָמַד (lamad) used substantivally.
30. Proverbs 5:14 tn The expression כִּמְעַט (kimʿat) is “like a little.” It means “almost,” and is used of unrealized action (BDB 590 s.v. 2). Cf. NCV “I came close to”; NLT “I have come to the brink of.”
31. Proverbs 5:14 tn Heb “I was in all evil” (cf. KJV, ASV).
32. Proverbs 5:14 tn The text uses the two words “congregation and assembly” to form a hendiadys, meaning the entire assembly.